Sandia
Researcher Recognized at SunSpec Annual Meeting
Sandia solar researcher Jay Johnson attended the SunSpec Alliance
Annual Member’s Meeting in San Francisco in March and received the 2015
SunSpec McCulloch-Pitts Award in recognition of “innovation, collaboration and
general technical excellence in the area of Distributed Energy Resource control
automation.” The award acknowledged Johnson’s collaborative research as part of
a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with SunSpec. Under
the CRADA, Sandia and SunSpec are teamed to create a graphical user interface
System Validation Platform to verify the functionality of Distributed Energy
Resources (DERs) with advanced grid functionality and utility communication
capabilities. The work follows on Sandia’s publication of testing protocols for
advanced grid inverters as a precursor to an international or updated
Underwriters Laboratories 1741 certification standard. The objective is to
address certification of DERs for advanced interoperability grid functionality defined
in the International Electrotechnical Commission Technical Report 61850-90-7. The SunSpec
Alliance is a trade alliance of solar and storage distributed energy
industry participants. The organization pursues standards related to operational
aspects of solar photovoltaic installations and energy storage.
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Sandia Co-Hosting 4th
PV Performance Modeling Workshop
Sandia National Laboratories is partnering with TUV Rheinland the
International Energy Agency’s Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme to host the
4th PV Performance Modeling Workshop in Cologne, Germany, October
22-23, 2015. The workshop convenes solar photovoltaic (PV) professionals
and researchers to learn about and discuss vital, innovative technical issues
related to PV performance modeling. The intent is to engage participants in
discussing best practices, modeling innovations, model validations, and opportunities
for new models in a variety of areas. Topics for the 2015 workshop include solar
resource data and uncertainty; soiling models; spectral corrections; bifacial
PV performance array modeling; updates about modeling tools; and field modeling
and validation of PV performance models. The agenda and registration details
are still in development. Updates about the event will be available on the PV Performance Modeling Collaborative (PVPMC) website.
The PVPMC is a collaborative group of PV professionals interested in improving
the accuracy and technical rigor of PV performance models and analyses.
Solar Team among Sandia Participants at Lab2Venture
Researchers from Sandia, included
representatives from the laboratory’s renewable energy and concentrating solar
power (CSP) teams, recently participated in Technology Ventures’
Lab2Venture Open House. Sandians Juan Torres, Subhash Shinde, Lee DeFrates,
and Kenneth Armijo attended the event to share information about the Sandia’s National
Solar Thermal Test Facility with local industry and entrepreneurs, and to
discuss uses for solar thermal technology beyond electricity production. Lab2Venture
provided an opportunity for industry, entrepreneurs, and inventors to meet and
collaborate with laboratories and research facilities, including Sandia, the
Air Force Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and the
University of New Mexico. About 200 people attended the open house.
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Sandia Solar Researcher to be
Featured in PBS Science Video
Sandia researcher Kenneth Armijo was recently interviewed for an
episode of the New Mexico Public Broadcasting Service’s (NMPBS’) “Why I
became a Scientist,” in NMPBS’ Science Central. The
program features video interviews with inspiring scientists, with the objective
of getting middle and high school students interested in math and science
careers. Armijo’s research topics include inverter/power electronics
reliability research, arc fault plasma reliability physics, thermal phenomena
of photovoltaic (PV) technologies, and other topics aimed at advancing solar
technologies. A Ph.D. in mechanical engineering, Armijo currently works in the National
Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia. Armijo was recognized in Hispanic Engineer and Information Technology
magazine’s Fall
2014 issue, in the article “Where Does the Energy Sector Find its Next-Gen
Stars?”
Sandia Falling
Particle Receiver Testing Continues on Tower
Sandia’s concentrating solar power (CSP) research team has
recently been conducting first-of-its-kind on-sun testing of a 1-MWth (megawatt-thermal)
continuously recirculating falling particle receiver system. During the
test, which was performed on-ground at the National
Solar Thermal Test Facility (NSTTF), heliostats
were used to illuminate particles falling over discrete porous structures in a
cavity receiver at different particle mass flow rates. On June 8, CSP
researchers will move the falling particle receiver to the top of the NSTTF
tower and continue testing. This step will mark the start of high-flux, on-sun
testing of the system. The tests are a collaborative effort between Sandia,
Georgia Tech, Bucknell University, German aerospace center DLR, and King Saud
University in Saudi Arabia.
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Sandia Research on
Rooftop Structural Strength Gains Attention
Two Sandia research reports, Structural
Code Considerations of Solar Rooftop Installations and Empirically
Derived Strength of Residential Roof Structure for Solar Installations,
have been featured recently in a number of solar trade outlets. The reports detail
rooftop structural analysis conducted by Sandia and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s
SunShot Initiative. Test results indicate that
the actual load-bearing capacity for residential rooftop structural systems is
several times higher than published values. These outcomes provide a new data for consideration in evaluating rooftops for solar PV
installations.
The reports were highlighted in newsletters from the Solar
Energy Industries Association, Solar
America Board for Codes and Standards (SolarABCs), and the Interstate
Renewable Energy Council. The reports are also slated to be discussed in a
June article in Solar Builder magazine,
as well as in an upcoming edition of the International Code Council’s Building
Safety Journal , a blog post from DOE’s Office of Renewable
Energy and Energy Efficiency, and webinars with the Solar Instructor
Training Network and SolarABCs. The reports are available on Sandia's PV website and results are summarized in a related fact sheet.
NPR Touts Solar as an Electricity
Resource for Navajo Nation
A recent feature
on National Public Radio highlights the use of solar to provide electricity
to Native Americans living off the grid on tribal reservations that are often
far from electricity grids. The piece includes a discussion with Sandian Sandra
Begay-Campbell, who leads the lab’s Tribal Energy Program. The
story focuses on the Navajo Nation, located in three of the four “corners”
region that traverses Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah (Navajo Nation
does not include land in Colorado). A U.S. Department of Energy statistic
quoted in the piece indicates some 18,000 Navajo homes lack electricity, in
most cases because grid infrastructure is not available. Solar installations
address this issue by providing local, “off-grid” power.
Sandia CSP Team Attends DOE
Industry Day
Cliff Ho and Subhash L. Shinde from Sandia’s
concentrating solar power (CSP) team and Energy Technologies and System Solutions Director Carol Adkins attended the U.S. Department of Energy’s
(DOE’s) Industry Day in Sacramento, CA, in April. The event convened CSP
researchers and industry representatives to discuss the effects of changes in
electricity generation and load profiles on renewable energy, and the
capabilities needed to meet the resulting challenges and opportunities. Topics
discussed included grid challenges, policy, CSP markets, and thermal energy
storage. Shinde presented a detailed overview of how CSP research at Sandia
and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory help support and advance the goals
of DOE’s SunShot Initiative.
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R. Hill, G.T. Klise, and John R. Balfour [High Performance PV], Precursor Report of Data Needs and Recommended Practices for PV
Plant Availability, Operations and Maintenance Reporting,
Albuquerque, NM. SAND2015-0587.
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D.M. Riley, C.W. Hansen, M. Farr, A
Performance Model for Photovoltaic Modules with Integrated Microinverters,
Albuquerque, NM, 2015. SAND2015-0179.
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Santiago S. Sena, Jimmy E. Quiroz, Robert J. Broderick, Analysis of 100 SGIP Interconnection Studies,
Albuquerque, NM. SAND2014-4753.
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S.F. Dwyer, B. Dwyer, A. Sanchez, Structural Code Considerations of Solar Rooftop Installations,
Albuquerque, NM. SAND 2014-20601.
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